This is an extremely brief account of the development of Legacy of
Kain. There are many things left out. We would not want to bore you with
3 years of details.

The Original Concept

The original concept of Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain was conceived
by Denis Dyack, originally titled "The Pillars of Nosgoth". It's
complex story was outlined in a document full of sketches and concepts.
The details and twisted story of Kain were developed and finalized by
Denis Dyack & Ken McCulloch. Ken went on to write the scripts for the
screen play (cinematics), the in-game stuff and the weapons descriptions.
We wanted to create a game where there was no ultimate weapon and armor.
A game where you had to use your head as well as your reflexes.

The Vision of Kain

Kain was conceived to be a game which adults would want to play.
The character Kain was modeled in part after Clint Eastwood's character in
the movie "Unforgiven". In this movie, there were no "good" or
"evil" characters, they were all "gray". The vision of Kain was to create
a game where the player is put in the position where everyone believes you
are evil, perhaps even yourself. We wanted to ask the questions of "What
is evil? Perhaps it is merely a perspective". We wanted to create an
"anti-hero". Other inspirations were the "Necroscope" series by
Brain Lumly because of the great visceral nature, and "The Wheel of
Time" series by Robert Jordan because of its rich world and finely
woven story lines.

Crystal becomes the Publisher of Kain

Along with several other game Publishers, Crystal Dynamics was
sent the "Pillars of Nosgoth" concept and several other proposals
from Silicon Knights. Crystal and Silicon Knights decided to pursue Kain
for the 32-bit market place. At this point, no platform was chosen and
the Sony PlayStation had not been announced.

Sony Playstation is Announced

After looking at all the 32-bit systems Silicon Knights and
Crystal Dynamics agreed to make the Sony the
lead platform. Its streamlined architecture and excellent graphic abilities helped it to win
out over the other platforms.

E3 - 1995

Being one of a handful of 2D games (as well as the only
Adventure/RPG) Kain was named as the best overall game at E3 by Die Hard
Game Fan. This excited and honored us. We thank Die Hard for this and
many things. They were one of the few magazines to given Silicon Knights
any credit. This means a lot to us and we are eternally grateful for all
of those magazines who gave credit where credit was deserved.

Changing a House to a Mansion

After some serious discussions and analysis it was decided to
substantially increase the size of the development team on Kain to make
it even better than its original spec. At this point, Silicon Knights
more than doubles in size and several designers from Crystal Dynamics aid
the increased design and level layout. This resulted in 5 designers from
Crystal flying up to Canada and spending over 6 months with us. We would
like to thank those involved who helped us to hone our vision of Kain.
Anyway, 40 in-game characters are increased to 190, 40 tiles sets are
increased to over 600, etc...

E3 - 1996

Kain is still rated as 6th overall at the show by Game Fan. This
is despite the hype of the new hardware platforms and 2nd generation of
32-bit games. Again we were very happy. The press and word of mouth for
Kain is now beginning to increase.

The Credit Screen

Activision and Crystal Dynamics strike a deal where
Activision does the manufacturing and distribution for Kain in North
America. In order avoid any confusion on who actually created, conceived
and developed this game the credit screen was added to the credits. This
is a first in the industry. We hope we have established a trend for other
developers.

Kain Ships

Before the U.S. Thanksgiving. All parties involved are very
pleased. Hopefully you are as well.